Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

All in one liquid cooling units are among the popular cooling solutions recently. With AIO units gaining popularity due to their cost to performance ratio, it doesn’t come as a surprise. If we look back a mere 2 years ago, liquid AIO cooling units were few and far between, and only a hand of manufacturers offered this type cooling solution. However, today we find AIO units flooding the market, and selecting the right one can be a hard choice with so many readily available......................

Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

Great review Kenny One thing I have learned the hard way over the years is to add some plastic or fiber washers to some of the blocks I have installed
when insulation between the screws backplate or fittings that contact the MB were not present or provided.

Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

Eh...with (albeit slightly) better performing units out there fom Zalman, Silverstone, Antec, Corsair, Cooler Master, Antec...I'm just not sure where this really offers anything different in an already saturated market. The price and noise differences are nominal, and neither is enough to make it stand out from the crowd.

It's pretty obvious that this came out of the same oem as Silverstone (or they mimicked it to the point of copyright infringement), but the thicker Silverstone rad obviously performs better. The one upside being that it will fit in some cases that the Silverstone doesn't.

Overall, it just feels like a "more of the same" in terms of price, performance and noise. Personally, I think it is better in terms of looks than most, but that is subjective.

Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

Great review Kenny, as always! I was impressed by the noise levels. Usually the other companies sacrifice a lot of quiet to come close to units like corsair ones. All in all though I agree with Ciarlatano that it is "more of the same."

Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

Thanks Guys!

With the saturated AIO market, they "all" are roughly the same in terms of performance and pricing. I've found units ranging from $80 all the way to $140 and they are all roughly (round about way) perform the same with some running a few degree cooler or worst, but rarely do we find one that runs extremely bad.

Like I mentioned in the article, and this pertains to most AIO units. Most come to these units due to pricing of water cooling (in terms of AIO Units in general), and while not speaking of one specific brand or maker, most run to these units due to the performance they get out of them without having to go into custom loops, or the want of installing a massive air cooler like the Noctua or phanteks that take up a lot of real estate inside of a case.

We all know that there are some air coolers that out perform some of the even more expensive AIO cooling units, but AIO units appeal to a larger group due to the recent craze in aesthetics of a PC build and reasons why we find that most consumer are running AIO more now due to its aesthetics and it being pleasing to the eye when inside of a chassis. Not everyone is looking for the top performer, but what "looks good" inside of a build. Self satisfaction I guess... This is the reason that so many manufactures are coming out with AIO units, while performance are "all about them same", its the other factors that push more consumers to them.

D5 pump with dress up kit and block. Custom Res with three XSPC 480mm rads. Swifteck CPU block and Two XSPC water blocks on my 670 cards.

Sound:

ASUS ROG THUNDERBOLT

Monitor:

47'' samsung tv

OS:

windows 7

Misc:

OCZ 60gb fot OS. And a OCZ 240 ssd.

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Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

Originally Posted by Solara2xb

Thanks Guys!

With the saturated AIO market, they "all" are roughly the same in terms of performance and pricing. I've found units ranging from $80 all the way to $140 and they are all roughly (round about way) perform the same with some running a few degree cooler or worst, but rarely do we find one that runs extremely bad.

Like I mentioned in the article, and this pertains to most AIO units. Most come to these units due to pricing of water cooling (in terms of AIO Units in general), and while not speaking of one specific brand or maker, most run to these units due to the performance they get out of them without having to go into custom loops, or the want of installing a massive air cooler like the Noctua or phanteks that take up a lot of real estate inside of a case.

We all know that there are some air coolers that out perform some of the even more expensive AIO cooling units, but AIO units appeal to a larger group due to the recent craze in aesthetics of a PC build and reasons why we find that most consumer are running AIO more now due to its aesthetics and it being pleasing to the eye when inside of a chassis. Not everyone is looking for the top performer, but what "looks good" inside of a build. Self satisfaction I guess... This is the reason that so many manufactures are coming out with AIO units, while performance are "all about them same", its the other factors that push more consumers to them.

Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

Originally Posted by Solara2xb

Thanks Guys!

With the saturated AIO market, they "all" are roughly the same in terms of performance and pricing. I've found units ranging from $80 all the way to $140 and they are all roughly (round about way) perform the same with some running a few degree cooler or worst, but rarely do we find one that runs extremely bad.

Like I mentioned in the article, and this pertains to most AIO units. Most come to these units due to pricing of water cooling (in terms of AIO Units in general), and while not speaking of one specific brand or maker, most run to these units due to the performance they get out of them without having to go into custom loops, or the want of installing a massive air cooler like the Noctua or phanteks that take up a lot of real estate inside of a case.

We all know that there are some air coolers that out perform some of the even more expensive AIO cooling units, but AIO units appeal to a larger group due to the recent craze in aesthetics of a PC build and reasons why we find that most consumer are running AIO more now due to its aesthetics and it being pleasing to the eye when inside of a chassis. Not everyone is looking for the top performer, but what "looks good" inside of a build. Self satisfaction I guess... This is the reason that so many manufactures are coming out with AIO units, while performance are "all about them same", its the other factors that push more consumers to them.

But that just my opinion on the subject.

Wait....where am I?

Agree 100% on all points.

This piece is fine as CLC goes....it's really just how many variations of the same thing will the market bear? Or should it bear? It's pretty hard to get excited about a piece that is exactly like twenty others. At least with Zalman and Antec you are getting something a little different.

It's kind of a shame, because Enermax makes some great fans and chose a kind of lousy piece for their first CLC offering. This one is significantly better, but comes at a time when there is a huge glut of similar pieces on the market, and now it will have to try to compete with the H220/240L, the new Swiftech coming out, the Fractal open loop coming out and two pre-assembled open loops from major cooling manufacturers rumored to be ready for a pre-Christmas launch. It just seems like "too little, too late, who cares" for a piece that would have been a strong contender had it been released at CES 2013.

Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

The one thing with AIO (CLC) and AIOs that are open loops is that they are playing in a different arena. While a open loop system is "like" a CLC not everyone is willing to or want to mess with them. Also its been known that open loops system can benefit much more than an CLC AIO units with the ability to expand and upgrade, so nothing new there either. So while essentially lots of reviews like to compare the Swiftech/Cooler Master H220 and other open loops systems to CLC system, you can't compare the 2 as its not really "apples to apples".

Enermax and many manufactures today are kind of and sort of "late" to this game. With so many AIO units out there now its pretty much up to a company that can market the item correctly, or perhaps a better software package which the Enermax units lack, type of fans included, so which ever the case (good or bad). But given even that fact, you can't blame the manufactures for joining in to get a piece of the cake, but its the fact that we need this to help bring down cost to the competing market share. Otherwise, we would have company "A" offering these units at outrageous prices.

But I can agree with you that Zalman and Antec are doing something different with their line of AIO units. So Kudos to them, I didn't test any of those so I can only speak from experience of the ones I have used or worked with, but still, performance is roughly in the same arena even with some designs being slightly different.

Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

Originally Posted by Solara2xb

The one thing with AIO (CLC) and AIOs that are open loops is that they are playing in a different arena. While a open loop system is "like" a CLC not everyone is willing to or want to mess with them. Also its been known that open loops system can benefit much more than an CLC AIO units with the ability to expand and upgrade, so nothing new there either. So while essentially lots of reviews like to compare the Swiftech/Cooler Master H220 and other open loops systems to CLC system, you can't compare the 2 as its not really "apples to apples".

Enermax and many manufactures today are kind of and sort of "late" to this game. With so many AIO units out there now its pretty much up to a company that can market the item correctly, or perhaps a better software package which the Enermax units lack, type of fans included, so which ever the case (good or bad). But given even that fact, you can't blame the manufactures for joining in to get a piece of the cake, but its the fact that we need this to help bring down cost to the competing market share. Otherwise, we would have company "A" offering these units at outrageous prices.

But I can agree with you that Zalman and Antec are doing something different with their line of AIO units. So Kudos to them, I didn't test any of those so I can only speak from experience of the ones I have used or worked with, but still, performance is roughly in the same arena even with some designs being slightly different.

While the CLC and pre-assembled open loops are not apples to apples in terms the capabilities and quality of the components, the comparisons are inevitable. They are apples to apples at this point in price range, and in the fact that they are liquid cooling that you can take out of the box and install directly. While we know they are not the same things, the average consumer doesn't - they see two items that are effectively the same with no need to mess with either, so they will compare the $109 Enermax to the $129 CM Glacer 240L, see that the Glacer offers better performance, and may or may not notice that the 240L can accomplish this with much lower noise. They may never even notice that the 240L is open loop, or that the rad, block and pump are all significantly better.

So, they do end up butting heads in the marketplace regardless of whether they should or shouldn't.

But, I agree - you certainly can't blame Enermax for trying to cash in - they are a business, they are here to make money. And this unit should get a nod for using the Silverstone platform with what in my opinion is more universally likable looks, rather than being the 347th iteration of the same Asetek. As you said, with performance so close, a huge part of buying a CLC is the aesthetics, and this unit will appeal to many.

Re: Enermax Liqtech 240 & Liqmax 120 CPU Cooler Review

Originally Posted by Ciarlatano

While the CLC and pre-assembled open loops are not apples to apples in terms the capabilities and quality of the components, the comparisons are inevitable. They are apples to apples at this point in price range, and in the fact that they are liquid cooling that you can take out of the box and install directly. While we know they are not the same things, the average consumer doesn't - they see two items that are effectively the same with no need to mess with either, so they will compare the $109 Enermax to the $129 CM Glacer 240L, see that the Glacer offers better performance, and may or may not notice that the 240L can accomplish this with much lower noise. They may never even notice that the 240L is open loop, or that the rad, block and pump are all significantly better.

So, they do end up butting heads in the marketplace regardless of whether they should or shouldn't.

But, I agree - you certainly can't blame Enermax for trying to cash in - they are a business, they are here to make money. And this unit should get a nod for using the Silverstone platform with what in my opinion is more universally likable looks, rather than being the 347th iteration of the same Asetek. As you said, with performance so close, a huge part of buying a CLC is the aesthetics, and this unit will appeal to many.

Thanks George, You make some valid points and I can def. agree on. At the end of the day, everyone will come out with something the same or similar in this market, our job is to point out the differences, aesthetics, value and performance each can hold. Everyone's opinion on whether its a good option to use is there own and all the while we can try to point them in the right direct, but not everyone listens too care fully now a days.

Thanks for chiming in on your thought's, an outsides point of view is always refreshing and it's always fun to have "little debates" without things being blown our of proportion (happens a lot of FB groups) so thanks for that! lolz..